Bridging the Citizen Centricity Theory and Practice: Various Cases Through Top-down and Bottom-up Approaches
摘要
Citizen centricity has recently gained momentum, with numerous studies focusing on its theory and practice. Despite this wealth of literature, existing studies are mainly devoted to specific concepts in theory and specific policy areas in practice, having the potential to contribute to existing knowledge only in particular dimensions. To unify this fragmented view, the present chapter holistically investigates citizen centricity in public policy making within the framework of public value co-production, as well as top-down and bottom-up approaches through the technological, social, and managerial domains. While examining the practical citizen centricity reflections in cases from different geographies and policy areas to draw practical inferences in public policy making, the chapter relates them to the basic concepts, such as active citizenship and public value, underlying theoretical components. It discusses the shift between top-down and bottom-up aspects in public policy making through the cases. The overall result indicates that active citizenship is more prominent in the technological domain, while public value production is at the forefront in the social and managerial domains. This difference refers to the technological domain’s focus on new participation tools and the increasing emphasis on citizens’ tendency to use these opportunities. The values are more prominent when services related to citizens’ daily affairs are questioned in the social and managerial domains. Finally, the chapter develops a dynamic hybrid perspective that stands for citizen centricity in public policy making and the practical aspects. The key concepts identified as the essential components of citizen centricity mainly embrace bottom-up public policy making in practice.